


The Blue Heron

by ObtuseOctopus



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, F/M, Gen, Magic, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:26:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22157764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObtuseOctopus/pseuds/ObtuseOctopus
Summary: • COMPLETE. One shot. •Jamie, an aspiring artist, often goes birdwatching at a local waterbend. However, a new discovery may prompt him to question his current grasp on reality.
Relationships: Jamie/Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 2





	The Blue Heron

_ I’ve studied the herons for a while.  _

_ They’d arrive every winter, from December to February, in the same location as they always do, the lake down in the countryside, away from the ocean.  _

_ People say that swans are natural ballerinas. And I can believe them. Their elegance, their grace, they seem to have known the art of dance long before humankind knew its name. They even sing a song before they die, as it has been fabled time and time again. _

_ But these herons… Occasionally I’d catch them swimming or walking in a formation, as if they are wise enough to perform a routine dance of their own, and they’d move their wings in ways that I’ve never seen other birds do. I believe that these herons have known the artistry for longer than swans have. They share the same beauty, the same grace, but these herons… _

Jamie looked up for a moment, observing the flock from a distance. He sat behind a large gray stone that was masking him from view so that he could get a close look at the blue herons without disrupting their daily activities and routine of wild life. He set his pen down upon the open sketchbook, unable to finish the thought and thus unable to continue writing his observations.

He watched these herons every year they would visit from ever since he had been ten. Herons did not judge, and herons did not look for harm. They were like swans, but bigger, fishing and eating, flying, and breathing.

One in particular of the flock always came rather relatively close to him. The large waterfowl would wade over, and then stand as its head would turn and twist as it observed him like he was the one in a zoo. There was a certain characteristic to it too that helped Jamie always know that it was the same bird as compared to the rest; the heron he was thinking of had a darker blue crest, and eyes so blue that he would mistake them for black, wings of silvery cyan, and its feathered crest upon its head curled upward at an angle like an adorable ocean wave just rolling in towards the shore as a tide embrace. He had seen this heron grow alongside him, from its gray down as a babe to its extraordinary flight feathers as an adolescent, a phenomenon he found to be beautifully odd since birds usually aged faster than people did.

_ I have decided to bestow this one the name of Blue, for the color of her feathers, and the color of her eyes. I know that this bird is female due to her smaller stature and her smaller bill, but it confuses me so how she bears a crest. But upon further inspection, I find that it be not a crest at all, but a gallon of fluffy feathers behind her head. It reminds me of hair, a pixie cut fit for a heron. _

_ She would come to me when her flock would fish or search among the reeds, and simply watch as I would write down my discoveries and become my audience as I draw pictures of the sights that nature has behold me with. She is like a quiet observer, perhaps curious of what I am doing, the only brave one of the bunch.  _

_ Or perhaps she is the leader of the flock, watching me to see if I am a threat to her brood, should the flock be her family. But I have not shown to be a threat, I am only a mere writer, and she my subject with emotion, my study and inspiration, not an object but more like a flower. Blue shows me the beauty found in these bonny herons, and I thank the earth for this opportunity to be blessed with such close encounters and such vivid yet also unexpected moments of life. _

_ She seems to be closer than she was the other day to me. I wonder if by now she has understood that I am here respectfully, and never take what isn’t mine. I only take with me back home the memories of being here, and my studies. I mean no evil, and I mean no sin. I am only a humble man, and these lands belong to the wilderness, and to the herons where they resume to fish and fly. I am a guest in their presence, they my host. I take good meaning in staying a good guest, wanting no trouble. _

Blue was in her usual position near the rock that Jamie was using as a peaceful stakeout, but this time standing on the shore entirely instead of simply standing in the freshwater like the other birds. She had her head facing towards him, cocked slightly to one side. Her gaze was curious, her dark eyes glimmering with the confusion of what the man was up to again.

Jamie watched her for a few seconds, taking quick note of how her feathers folded and creased, how her quills lay against her body, and how her legs were like long gray sticks in the soft grass. He turned to the next page in his sketchbook, beginning to etch the image of the heron onto the paper with his pen, his strokes light and quick as he wanted to get as much as he could before she moved.

He managed to get down the shape of her head and the basic structure for her body, using circles as the base for the sketch. He erased a guideline in order to go back a bit darker with a bit more pressure on the pen, adding feathers with connected strokes.

_ Blue has a bit of a more slender body shape than the other female herons. Do not say that it is because of any rooted lust that all foolish men carry, but because of my keen eye and attention to detail the same way someone could identify their friend by their hair or their shape. I mean no intention of bringing upon any disruption to nature, only to offer perhaps my friendship shall these herons ever need my help in a time of need, in which I will eventually come to recognize each bird by their characteristics the same as Blue. I know not any other at the moment, but perhaps I could grant a name the one who bears a fluffier chest, or the one with a twisted foot. The poor creature… If I could manufacture a way for it to be able to wade and walk without wobbling to one side… _

Jamie just about finished outlining the feathers of the body, moving on to the layers of the wing. Fixated, he failed to realize that someone was approaching.

“Is that… me? How’d you do that?”

Jamie looked up, the heron gone, his pen coming to a stop at the voice. Immediately, his eyes went wide when he had glanced up to see who it was that approached him, and he stumbled over in poor attempt of shuffling away. He was heavily spooked, unable to recoil so easily as he felt his elbows hit the dirt.

“Oh. Um… are you okay?” The stranger, a pale-skinned maiden bearing what seemed like a feathery hide around her nude body was staring at him, leaning over a little to get a better view of him. 

Jamie closed his eyes near immediately, a hand over his face to further help curtain his vision from the woman. “Oh- my goodness, my lady-!”

The girl raised a brow at his reaction.

Jamie did his best to compose himself, still shielding his gaze. “Please, cover yourself. Let me know when that’s been done. I can’t bring myself to lay eyes upon any revealing woman.”

“Revealing…?” The stranger gave a snort. She was taking this very lightly, less serious than Jamie was.

“Yes, revealing! It’s wrong to look at a woman without any clothes-!” Jamie kept his dignity, still blinding himself by means of his hands. “I dare not look upon you unless you are clothed! It’s the respectful thing for a gentleman like me to do. We aren’t even married.”

“Um… okay?” The stranger laughed. There was some shuffling, then she spoke again. “How about this?”

Jamie was frightened of what he may see. But, warily did he open his eyes and part his hands. And luckily for him, the situation was better. The maid had adjusted the odd feathered garment around herself to better cover herself, and Jamie let out a relaxed sigh of relief. “Whew, thank you, madam.”

“Sure I guess…?” The stranger shrugged. She pointed at the sketchbook. “What’s that?”

Jamie gulped, nervous around her. “Why, it’s my sketchbook, ma’am. I use this to write down all my logs, and draw the scenery around me.”

“Is that why you were drawing me?”

“I suppose… may I ask what you mean? I was originally drawing the…-“ Jamie stopped. He looked at his drawing. Then he looked at the girl. Something was strangely adding up here… “The... Are you…-?”

“I’m Lapis,” the woman introduced herself. “You’re the man who was watching us.”

“I wouldn’t call it watching, more of observing from a distance. I was adoring the herons-“

“It’s fine if you were watching us. It was kind of creepy at first, but you helped keep the foxes away.”

“F-foxes?”

Lapis nodded. 

“I’m sorry, where are my manners? I’m Jamie, at your acquaintance, madam,” Jamie offered his hand out to her. But Lapis didn’t take it, so he awkwardly pulled his hand back and recovered his sketchbook.

“I don’t know what that means. But, thanks,” Lapis smiled.

“I’ll elaborate; it means that I offer my friendship to you, Lapis,” Jamie said. 

Lapis blankly blinked.

Jamie nervously hummed. “I’m not sure how else to explain it…” he admitted.

“It’s alright,” Lapis assured. “Are you going to keep coming by and watching us?”

“Us?”

“Yeah. Us. We were wondering if next time, you could bring food or something.”

“You mean there’s…?”

“Well, it’s me and some of my friends right now. Pearl’s over there,” Lapis pointed to a heron. “She likes salmon.”

“Salmon? Is that even-?”

“Eh. I mean… I prefer cooked fish…” Lapis said. “I never get any out here.”

Jamie cleared his throat. “Well, if it’d be the neighborly thing to do, I shall.”

“Really?”

“You have my word, my lady.”

“It’s Lapis.”

Jamie pursed his lips before correcting himself. “Right; you have my word, Lapis, next time I arrive, I’ll bring some food offerings of your choice.”

“Can I keep that too?” Lapis asked, pointing to the sketchbook drawing.

Jamie was surprised. “My… my drawing?”

“Yeah.”

“Well… I suppose once I’m done.”

Lapis gave a smile. “Fine by me,” she grinned, turning back towards the water.

“Wait! Are you leaving?”

“I have to. I don’t like being too far away from everyone for too long. Things can happen.”

“Then you have my word. The next time I visit, shall be with both food and my finished masterpiece, signed and all for you,” Jamie promised.

Lapis snorted. “I can’t wait to see it,” she commented. “Well… bye.” And with that, much to Jamie’s disbelief, her form began to change. Feathers sprouted from her body, and it seemed like the hide she wore melted into her skin. Soon enough, a familiar blue heron stood in front of him, and it stepped into the water after looking back at him.

_ Blue has an official name as she has revealed to me; Lapis. And I’m unsure of it has been a dream or some kind of hallucination caused by heat stroke, but I could’ve sworn that the heron had became a lady who actually spoke to me, bearing some sort of skin much akin to the herons… _

_ I wonder, oh great heavens and earth; _

_ Is it possible that magic does exist? Or have my eyes only feigned the impossible? _


End file.
